Method of and system for comparing database records to determine connections between parties over a network

ABSTRACT

A method and system for determining a connection between a source party and a target party includes constructing a host database that includes a plurality of records, each record including a number of data fields containing identification information of a party, such that the identification information is extracted from non-restricted sources. A client database is constructed that includes a plurality of records, each record including a number of data fields containing identification information of a party, such that the identification information is extracted from a client&#39;s private sources. Identification information of a source party and a target party is received. A record in the client database is identified that includes identification information of the source party, and a record in the host database is identified that includes identification information of the target party. The data fields in the records of at least one of the client database and the host database are searched to locate identification information commonalties between the source party record and at least one intermediate party record. The data fields in the records of at least one of the client database and the host database are searched to locate identification information commonalties between the at least one intermediate party record and the target party record. Upon locating at least one identification information commonality between the at least one intermediate party record and the target party record, a list is generated that includes the at least one intermediate party record.

CROSS-REFERENCED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit U.S. application Ser. No.60/211,725, filed Jun. 15, 2000, the disclosure of which is herebyincorporated by reference into this application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to a method of and system fordetermining connections between parties and, more particularly, to aconnection searching method and system in which a user is capable ofentering a source party and a target party and searching a host databaseto obtain lists of people or entities through which the source andtarget parties are connected. The system also is capable of determininga number of connections that are associated with one party.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It is well known that personal contacts are advantageous when conductingtransactions between parties. However, determining the contacts of oneparty of a transaction the contacts of the other party of thetransaction and what contacts those contacts have in common can be verydifficult and time consuming. Currently, there is no efficient method orsystem for determining such contacts between parties of a transaction.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a method of and system fordetermining connections between people which is efficient and effective.The system includes a host database which includes records of parties,including identification information, which is available fromnon-restricted sources. The identification information is arranged in aseries of searchable data fields. A user connects to a websiteassociated with the system and inputs a source party and a target party,for the purpose of finding a number of connections between the parties.The parties may be people or entities, such as companies, organizations,etc. The system searches the database for intermediate party recordshaving at least one data field which includes identification informationwhich is common to the identification information in at least one of thedata fields of the source party record. The located party records arecompared to the target party record to determine if any of theidentification information in the intermediate party record is common toany of the identification information in the target party record. Ifthere is a commonality, a list of the source party, intermediate partyand target party is generated, including the records for each party, toshow the connection path between the source party and the target party.If there are no commonalities between the intermediate party and thetarget party, further intermediate parties are located which havecommonalities with the first intermediate party. The located partyrecords are then compared to the target party record to determine if anyof the identification information in the further intermediate partrecords are common to any of the identification information in thetarget party record. If there is a commonality, a list of the sourceparty, intermediate parties and target party is generated, including therecords for each party, to show the connection path between the sourceparty and the target party. This process is repeated until no furtherconnections are found or until a preset limit of connections is reached.

According to one aspect of the invention, a method of determining aconnection between a source party and a target party includes:

A. constructing a host database, the host database including a pluralityof records, each record including a number of data fields, each of thedata fields including identification information of a party, theidentification information being extracted from non-restricted sources;

B. constructing a client database, the client database including aplurality of records, each record including a number of data fields,each of the data fields including identification information of a party,the identification information being extracted from a client's privatesources;

C. receiving identification information of a source party and a targetparty;

D. identifying a record in the client database including identificationinformation of the source party;

E. identifying a record in the host database including identificationinformation of the target party;

F. searching the data fields in the records of at least one of theclient database and the host database to locate identificationinformation commonalities between the source party record and at leastone intermediate party record;

G. searching the data fields in the records of at least one of theclient database and the host database to locate identificationinformation commonalities between the at least one intermediate partyrecord and the target party record; and

H. upon locating at least one identification information commonalitybetween the at least one intermediate party record and the target partyrecord, generating a list including the at least one intermediate partyrecord.

Step G may further include searching the data fields in the records ofat least one of the client database and the host database to locateidentification information commonalities between the at least oneintermediate party records and further intermediate party records; andsearching the data fields in the records of at least one of the clientdatabase and the host database to locate identification informationcommonalities between the further intermediate party records and thetarget party record.

The source party and the target party may be one of a person and anentity. The identification information may include personal andaffiliation information of the party.

The identification information may include at least one of a person'sname, the person's dates of employment with a company, the person'stitle within the company, the person's company name, the person'scompany address, the person's company SIC code, and the person's companyticker symbol. The identification information may include at least oneof a company name, the company's address, the company's SIC code and thecompany's ticker symbol. The records stored on the client database maybe a subset of the records stored on the host database.

According to another aspect of the invention, a method of determining aconnection between a source party and a target party includes:

A. constructing a host database, the host database including a pluralityof records, each record including a number of data fields, each of thedata fields including identification information of a party, theidentification information being extracted from non-restricted sources;

B. receiving identification information of a source party and a targetparty;

C. identifying a record in the host database including identificationinformation of the source party;

D. identifying a record in the host database including identificationinformation of the target party;

E. searching the data fields in the records of the host database tolocate identification information commonalities between the source partyrecord and at least one intermediate party record;

F. searching the data fields in the records of the host database tolocate identification information commonalities between the at least oneintermediate party record and the target party record; and

G. upon locating a data field commonality between the at least oneintermediate party record and the target party record, generating a listof the at least one intermediate party record.

According to another aspect of the invention, a system for determining aconnection between a source party and a target party includes a hostsystem having a computer processor and associated memory. The hostsystem includes a host database including a plurality of records, eachrecord including a number of data fields, each of the data fieldsincluding identification information of a party, the identificationinformation being extracted from non-restricted sources. The system alsoincludes a client system having a computer processor and associatedmemory, the client system including a client database including aplurality of records, each record including a number of data fields,each of the fields including identification information of a party, theidentification information being extracted from a client's privatesources. The client system establishes a connection to the host systemover the communication network and inputs identification information ofa source party and a target party. The host system identifies a recordin at least on of the client database and the host database includingidentification information of the source party and identifying a recordin at least one of the client database and the host database includingidentification information of the target party; and the host systemsearching the data fields in the records to locate identificationinformation commonalities between the source party record and at leastone intermediate party record and searching the data fields in therecords to locate identification information commonalities between theat least one intermediate party record and the target party record. Uponlocating a identification information commonality between the at leastone intermediate party record and the target party record, the hostsystem generating a list of the at least one intermediate party record.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a system fordetermining a connection between a source party and a target partyincludes a host system including a computer processor and associatedmemory and a user system including a computer processor and associatedmemory. The host system includes a database having a plurality ofrecords, each record including a number of data fields, each of the datafields including identification information of a party, theidentification information being extracted from non-restricted sources.The user system is adapted for establishing a connection to the hostsystem over a communication network and inputting identificationinformation of a source party and a target party to the host system. Thehost system identifies records in the database including identificationinformation of the source party identification information of the targetparty and searches the data fields in the records to locateidentification information commonalities between the source party recordand at least one intermediate party record and searching the data fieldsin the records to locate identification information commonalitiesbetween the at least one intermediate party record and the target partyrecord. Upon locating a identification information commonality betweenthe at least one intermediate party record and the target party record,the host system generating a list of the at least one intermediate partyrecord.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method ofdetermining a connection between a source party and a target partyincludes:

A. receiving identification information of a source party and a targetparty;

B. identifying a record in the client database including identificationinformation of the source party, the client database including aplurality of records, each record including a number of data fields,each of the data fields including identification information of a party;

C. identifying a record in the host database including identificationinformation of the target party, the host database including a pluralityof records, each record including a number of data fields, each of thedata fields including identification information of a party;

D. searching the data fields in the records of at least one of theclient database and the host database to locate identificationinformation commonalities between the source party record and at leastone intermediate party record;

E. searching the data fields in the records of at least one of theclient database and the host database to locate identificationinformation commonalities between the at least one intermediate partyrecord and the target party record; and

F. upon locating at least one identification information commonalitybetween the at least one intermediate party record and the target partyrecord, generating a list including the at least one intermediate partyrecord.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method ofdetermining a connection between a source party and a target partyincludes:

A. receiving identification information of a source party and a targetparty;

B. identifying a record in the host database including identificationinformation of the source party, the host database including a pluralityof records, each record including a number of data fields, each of thedata fields including identification information of a party, theidentification information being extracted from non-restricted sources;

C. identifying a record in the host database including identificationinformation of the target party;

D. searching the data fields in the records of the host database tolocate identification information commonalities between the source partyrecord and at least one intermediate party record;

E. searching the data fields in the records of the host database tolocate identification information commonalities between the at least oneintermediate party record and the target party record; and

F. upon locating a data field commonality between the at least oneintermediate party record and the target party record, generating a listof the at least one intermediate party record.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a system fordetermining a connection between a source party and a target partyincludes a host system including a computer processor and associatedmemory and a user system including a computer processor and associatedmemory. The host system includes a database having a plurality ofrecords, each record including a number of data fields, each of the datafields including identification information of a party. The user systemis adapted for establishing a connection to the host system over acommunication network, the user system inputting identificationinformation of a source party and a target party to the host system. Thehost system identifies records in the database including identificationinformation of the source party identification information of the targetparty and searches the data fields in the records to locateidentification information commonalities between the source party recordand at least one intermediate party record and searching the data fieldsin the records to locate identification information commonalitiesbetween the at least one intermediate party record and the target partyrecord. Upon locating a identification information commonality betweenthe at least one intermediate party record and the target party record,the host system generating a list of the at least one intermediate partyrecord.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and other objects of this invention, the various featuresthereof, as well as the invention itself may be more fully understoodfrom the following description when read together with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a system for determining connectionsbetween parties in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing one embodiment of a method fordetermining connections between parties in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. is a flow diagram showing another embodiment of a method fordetermining connections between parties in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 4 is a detailed schematic diagram of the system for determiningconnections between parties shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing a list of connections determinedaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a more detailed schematic diagram of records of the partiesinvolved in one of the connections shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing identification informationincluded in a record of an entity, according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a system 10 for determiningconnections between parties in accordance with a preferred embodiment ofthe present invention. The system 10 includes host system 12, usersystem 14 and client systems 16 a-16 c, all connected to a commoncommunications network 18. While three client systems 16 a-16 c areshown in FIG. 1, it will be understood that as few as one client systemmay participate in the study, or many more than three may participate.Three client systems are shown in FIG. 1 for the purpose of exampleonly. Preferably, the host system 12, user system 14 and client systems16 a-16 c are each a personal computer such as an IBM PC or IBM PCcompatible system or an APPLE® MacINTOSH® system or a more advanceddatabase computer system such as an Alpha-based computer systemavailable from Compaq Computer Corporation or SPARC® Station computersystem available from SUN Microsystems Corporation, although a mainframe computer system can also be used. Preferably, the communicationsnetwork 18 is a TCP/IP-based network such as the Internet or anintranet, although almost any well known LAN, WAN or VPN technology canbe used.

In one preferred embodiment of the invention, the user system 14 is anIBM PC compatible system operating an operating system such as theMicrosoft Windows® operating system, and host system 12 is configured asa web server providing access to information such as web pages in HTMLformat via a protocol such as the HyperText Transport Protocol (http).The user system 14 and client systems 16 a-16 c include software toallow viewing of web pages, commonly referred to as a web browser, thusbeing capable of accessing web pages located on host system 12.Alternatively, user system 14 and client system 16 a-16 c can be anywired or wireless device that can be connected to a communicationsnetwork, such as an interactive television system, including WEBTV, apersonal digital assistant (PDA) or a cellular telephone.

The method of and system for determining connections between partieswill now be described with reference to FIGS. 2-7. FIG. 4 is a schematicblock diagram showing a more detailed diagram of the system 10 of FIG.1. As shown in FIG. 4, host system 12 includes a host operation systemand database 102 and a record matching engine 104. As shown in thefigure, the client systems 16 a-16 c are separate entities, each havinga firewall, represented by dashed line 124. The client systems 16 a-16 care located on the client side 120 of the firewall 124 and the hostsystem 12 is located on the host side 122 of the firewall 124. Each ofclient systems 16 a-16 c include a company database 110 in whichcontacts of employees and officers of the company are stored. Typicalcontact programs which are used for storing contacts include ACT®,Outlook®, Goldmine®, and Lotus Notes®. Each client system also includesan intermediate list 112, a client database 114 and a client interface116. The operation of these components is described in detail below.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram 20 which shows the method of determiningconnection between parties. In step 22, the host database isconstructed. This involves populating the database with informationabout people and entities such as companies, organizations, etc. Thisinformation is extracted from non-restricted sources including the SECdatabase, Market Guide, IPO.com, company websites, news articles, pressreleases, etc. The information about each person or entity is arrangedin a parsable record having a number of data fields. Identificationinformation of the person or entity is input into an appropriate datafield. The identification information input into the various data fieldsincludes the name of the person or entity, the address of the person orentity, the person's position in the company, the person's dates ofemployment with companies the person has worked for, the ticker symbolof the company, the SIC code of the company, etc. Preferably, themajority of the information is obtained through an automated process,such a web crawler, that searches the internet, extracts the appropriatedata and inserts the data into the data fields to construct a record ofthe person or entity. Information not accessible to the automatedprocess is input to the system manually. In this step, relationshipsbetween parties may be identified and links between related recordsestablished and saved in the database. This enables connections betweenparties to be included in the records of each party. This step may berepeated as often as necessary to keep the database updated.

In step 24, the client database 114 is constructed. First, the contactdata included in the company database 110 is exported to the companylist 112, and irrelevant contacts, such as personal contacts andnon-business contacts, are eliminated. Redundant contacts are alsoeliminated. The company list 112 is input to record matching engine 104where it is compared to the records included on host operation systemand database 102. All contacts in the company list 112 that are alsoincluded in the host database 102 are stored in the same record form asthe host database contacts and these records are saved in clientdatabase 114. This step may be repeated as often as necessary to keepthe database updated. Accordingly, the data stored in the clientdatabase 116 is a subset of the data stored in host database 102. Knownrelationships between records in the client database 116 can bedetermined at this point and links between the related recordsimplemented into the records. The information stored in the clientdatabase is proprietary to the client and is not accessible by outsideparties. Contacts in the company list 112 which are not already on thehost database 102 are not saved in the client database 114, since thesecontacts will not lead to further contacts on the host database 102.

Once the party records have been constructed and stored in the clientdatabase 114 and the host database 102, the process of determiningconnections between parties (people and/or entities) can be executed. Instep 26, the host operation system 102 receives identificationinformation of the source party and the target party, which typicallyare the names of the person or entity, from the client interface 116 ofthe client system 16 through a connection with the host system 12 viathe internet 18. The record associated with source party is then locatedin the client database 114 if it is stored there. If it is not, it islocated in the host database 102, step 28. The record associated withthe target party is also located in either the client database 114 orthe host database 102. In step 30, the records in the client database114 and host database 102 are searched by the host operation system tolocate commonalities between the identification information in the datafields in the source party record and identification information in thedata fields of the records stored in the databases. All intermediateparty records which include commonalities with the source party recordare identified as first stage intermediate party records. Ifrelationship links between parties within the client database have beenpreviously established, these links are used to locate the connectionsbetween the source party record and the first stage intermediate partyrecord. The identification information in the data fields of the firststage intermediate party records are then compared to the identificationinformation in the data fields of the target party record to locatefirst stage intermediate party records having commonalities with thetarget party record, step 32. If none of the first stage intermediateparty records have any identification information commonalities with thetarget party record, step 34, the records in the databases are searchedto locate further stage intermediate party records having identificationinformation commonalities with the first stage intermediate partyrecords, step 36. The identification information in the further stageintermediate party records is searched to determine if there are anycommonalities between any of the data fields in the further stageintermediate party records and the target party record, step 32. Steps32 through 36 are repeated until an intermediate party record is locatedwhich has identification information commonalities with the target partyrecord. When this occurs, the host operation system 102 generates a listof the parties connecting the source party to the target party, step 38,and transmits the list to the client interface 116 via the internet 18.If a preset limit, which limits the number of unique connections foundto a predetermined number, which may be set by the client when enteringthe source and target party information or by the host operation system,is met, step 40, the process ends. If the preset limit is not met, steps32 through 36 are repeated until the preset limit number of uniqueconnections is met.

An example connections list is schematically shown in FIG. 5. In thisexample, after the host database 102 and the client database 114 havebeen constructed, steps 22 and 24, FIG. 2, identification informationfor a source party 202 and a target party 204 are input to the hostoperation system 102 over the internet 18 through client interface 116.For simplicity, the entire record of each party is not shown in FIG. 5.Only the relevant identification information for the purposes of thisexample are shown. Upon receiving the identification information, whichtypically is the name of the people between whom a connection is to bedetermined, the records of the source party and the target party areidentified in the client and/or host databases, step 28. In thisexample, the source party 202 is for J.F. who is the Chief TechnologyOfficer of Company A. The target party record 204 is for L.S., the ChiefFinancial Officer of Company F. In step 30, the host database 102 issearched to locate intermediate party records having identificationinformation commonalities with the source party record 202. In thiscase, the record 206 of C.O., which indicates that C.O. hasidentification information including a relationship with Company A asChief Operating Officer is located. The remaining identificationinformation of the record of C.O. is searched to determine whether thereis a commonality between any of the identification information of C.O.and any of the identification information stored in the record of thetarget party, L.S., step 32. There is a commonality, since the record ofC.O. indicates a relationship with Company F as Chief TechnologyOfficer, step 34. Accordingly, a list including the source party recordof J.F., the intermediate party record of C.O. and the target partyrecord of L.S. is generated and sent to the client interface 116, step38. In the list, all of the identification information included dataincluded in the record of each party is available to the client.

A more detailed view of the source party record 202, the target partyrecord 204 and the intermediate party record 206 is shown in FIG. 6. Asshown in the figure, the records 202, 204 and 206 include data fieldslisting identification information such as the name of the person, age,address and relationships to entities such as companies, association,etc. In the example, the commonality between the source party record 202and the intermediate party record 206 found in step 30 is that both J.F.and C.O. have a relationship with Company A: J.F. as the present CTO andC.O. as a former COO. In step 32, the commonality between theintermediate party record 206 and the target party record 204 islocated, namely the relationship of both parties with Company F. Asshown in record 204, L.S. is the present CFO of Company F and C.O. isthe present COO of Company F.

In FIG. 5, each entity with which the involved parties are associated isindicated by a dashed line. Connections between entities are referred toas hops. Since no entities other than the entities associated with thesource party and the target party are needed to make the connectionshown by double-dotted, dashed line 208, this connection is referred toas a “one-hop” connection. Other, multiple hop connections between thesource party record 202 and the target party record 204 are shown inFIG. 5. Line 210 shows a “two hop” connection. Using the methoddescribed above, it is determined that the record of the source partyJ.F., 202 indicates a relationship between Company A and Company D basedon the commonality that J.F. is associated with both companies. Afurther search in host database 102 indicates a relationship between therecord 202 of J.F. and the record 212 of M.P., based on the commonalitythat both parties have a relationship with Company D. The record 212 ofM.P. indicates a relationship with the target record 204 of L.S., basedon the commonality that both parties have a relationship with Company F.Accordingly, since one intermediate entity (Company D) is included inthe connection 210, this connection is referred to as a “two-hop”connection. Three-hop connections are shown by dotted line 220 anddotted dashed line 222. In this example, if the preset limit ofconnections is four, in step 40, FIG. 2, the process would end. It willbe understood that the preset limit can be set to any number, although,in order to minimize processing time and cumbersome connection lists,the limit preferably is set to no more than 10.

While the example described above shows how connections between twopeople are generated, the system also determines connections between aperson and an entity, such as a company or association; between anentity and a person; and between two entities. Upon constructing theclient database 116, a record of the client entity is generated andstored in the client database 116. The host database 102, when beingconstructed, generates records of entities found in its search of thenon-restricted sources in the same manner as the records for peopledescribed above. An example entity record 230 is shown in FIG. 7. Asshown in the figure, entity record 230 comprises a number of data fieldsincluding identification information of the entity, including the entityname, ticker symbol, address and a list of its executives. When anentity is the source party and/or the target party, The same processshown in FIG. 2 is carried out, meaning that intermediate records, whichmay include records of people or entities, are located which includeidentification information which is common to the source and or targetparty records.

In an alternative embodiment, the host operation system and database 102and the record matching engine 104 are replicated on the client database114. In this embodiment, all of the operations described above areexecuted on the client system 16, thus allowing all execution to belocal to the client system 16. Furthermore, the system 10 can beutilized to construct a list of connection that are associated with asingle party. By inputting a single party to the host operation systemand database 102, the searching function described above is executedand, in a first iteration, all records including identificationinformation having commonalities with the source party are located anddisplayed. Depending on the scope of connections desired, numerousiterations of the search function can be executed in order to locaterecords of parties connected to the parties located in previousiterations.

While, as described above, the system 10 may be utilized by clientshaving a proprietary client database, it can also be utilized by a partywhich does not construct its own database. This process is shown in theflow diagram 240 of FIG. 3. In step 250, the user system 14, FIGS. 1 and4, establishes a connection over the internet to the host system 12. Theuser system then enters the source party and the target party, step 252.The host operation system 102 identifies the records associated with thesource party and the target party in the host database, step 254. Oncethe source party record and the target party record are found, steps 256through 266 are executed, which are identical to steps 30 through 40shown in flow diagram 20 of FIG. 2.

Accordingly, the present invention enables connections between peopleand entities to be determined using a convenient and efficient databaseconstruction and search tool. The invention is able to provideinformation about connections between parties based on commonalities inthe identification information associated with each of the people andentities. The system can also be used simply for browsing throughconnections between parties and for obtaining the identificationinformation associated with the record for a particular party. While theapplication has been described in connection with an example usingbusinesses and business people as the parties, it will be understoodthat any party could utilize the connection-determining feature of thepresent invention and be the subject matter, including schools, civicgroups, churches, organizations, associations, families, agencies,neighborhoods, etc., and the people who populate such groups.

The invention may be embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the spirit or essential characteristics thereof. The presentembodiments are therefore to be considered in respects as illustrativeand not restrictive, the scope of the invention being indicated by theappended claims rather than by the foregoing description, and allchanges which come within the meaning and range of the equivalency ofthe claims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of determining a connection between asource party and a target party comprising: A. constructing a hostdatabase, said host database including a plurality of records, eachrecord including a number of data fields, each of said data fieldsincluding identification information of a party, said identificationinformation being extracted from non-restricted sources; B. constructinga client database, said client database including a plurality ofrecords, each record including a number of data fields, each of saiddata fields including identification information of a party, saididentification information being extracted from a client's privatesources; C. receiving identification information of a source party and atarget party; D. identifying a record in said client database includingidentification information of said source party; E. identifying a recordin said host database including identification information of saidtarget party; F. searching said data fields in said records of at leastone of said client database and said host database to locateidentification information commonalities between said source partyrecord and at least one intermediate party record; G. searching saiddata fields in said records of at least one of said client database andsaid host database to locate identification information commonalitiesbetween said at least one intermediate party record and said targetparty record; and H. upon locating at least one identificationinformation commonality between said at least one intermediate partyrecord and said target party record, generating a list including said atleast one intermediate party record.
 2. The method of claim 1 whereinstep G further includes: searching said data fields in said records ofat least one of said client database and said host database to locateidentification information commonalities between said at least oneintermediate party records and further intermediate party records; andsearching said data fields in said records of at least one of saidclient database and said host database to locate identificationinformation commonalities between said further intermediate partyrecords and said target party record.
 3. The method of claim 2 whereinsaid source party is one of a person and an entity and said target partyis one of a person and an entity.
 4. The method of claim 3 wherein saididentification information includes personal and affiliation informationof said party.
 5. The method of claim 4 wherein said identificationinformation includes at least one of a person's name, said person'sdates of employment with a company, said person's title within saidcompany, said person's company name, said person's company address, saidperson's company SIC code, and said person's company ticker symbol. 6.The method of claim 3 wherein said identification information includesat least one of a company name, said company's address, said company'sSIC code and said company's ticker symbol.
 7. The method of claim 3wherein said records stored on said client database are a subset of saidrecords stored on said host database.
 8. A method of determining aconnection between a source party and a target party comprising: A.constructing a host database, said host database including a pluralityof records, each record including a number of data fields, each of saiddata fields including identification information of a party, saididentification information being extracted from non-restricted sources;B. receiving identification information of a source party and a targetparty; C. identifying a record in said host database includingidentification information of said source party; D. identifying a recordin said host database including identification information of saidtarget party; E. searching said data fields in said records of said hostdatabase to locate identification information commonalities between saidsource party record and at least one intermediate party record; F.searching said data fields in said records of said host database tolocate identification information commonalities between said at leastone intermediate party record and said target party record; and G. uponlocating a data field commonality between said at least one intermediateparty record and said target party record, generating a list of said atleast one intermediate party record.
 9. The method of claim 8 whereinstep F further includes: searching said data fields in said records ofsaid host database to locate identification information commonalitiesbetween said at least one intermediate party records and furtherintermediate party records; and searching said data fields in saidrecords of said host database to locate identification informationcommonalities between said further intermediate party records and saidtarget party record.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein said source partyis one of a person and an entity and said target party is one of aperson and an entity.
 11. The method of claim 10 wherein saididentification information includes personal and affiliation informationof said party.
 12. The method of claim 11 wherein said identificationinformation includes at least one of a person's name, said person'sdates of employment with a company, said person's title within saidcompany, said person's company name, said person's company address, saidperson's company SIC code, and said person's company ticker symbol. 13.The method of claim 10 wherein said identification information includesat least one of a company name, said company's address, said company'sSIC code and said company's ticker symbol.
 14. The method of claim 10wherein said records stored on said client database are a subset of saidrecords stored on said host database.
 15. A system for determining aconnection between a source party and a target party comprising: a hostsystem including a computer processor and associated memory, said hostsystem including a host database including a plurality of records, eachrecord including a number of data fields, each of said data fieldsincluding identification information of a party, said identificationinformation being extracted from non-restricted sources; a client systemincluding a computer processor and associated memory, said client systemincluding a client database including a plurality of records, eachrecord including a number of data fields, each of said fields includingidentification information of a party, said identification informationbeing extracted from a client's private sources; said client systemestablishing a connection to said host system over said communicationnetwork and inputting identification information of a source party and atarget party; said host system identifying a record in at least on ofsaid client database and said host database including identificationinformation of said source party and identifying a record in at leastone of said client database and said host database includingidentification information of said target party; said host systemsearching said data fields in said records to locate identificationinformation commonalities between said source party record and at leastone intermediate party record and searching said data fields in saidrecords to locate identification information commonalities between saidat least one intermediate party record and said target party record; andupon locating a identification information commonality between said atleast one intermediate party record and said target party record, saidhost system generating a list of said at least one intermediate partyrecord.
 16. A system for determining a connection between a source partyand a target party comprising: a host system including a computerprocessor and associated memory, said host system including a databaseincluding a plurality of records, each record including a number of datafields, each of said data fields including identification information ofa party, said identification information being extracted fromnon-restricted sources; a user system including a computer processor andassociated memory, said user system being adapted for establishing aconnection to said host system over a communication network, said usersystem inputting identification information of a source party and atarget party to said host system; said host system identifying recordsin said database including identification information of said sourceparty identification information of said target party; said host systemsearching said data fields in said records to locate identificationinformation commonalities between said source party record and at leastone intermediate party record and searching said data fields in saidrecords to locate identification information commonalities between saidat least one intermediate party record and said target party record; andupon locating a identification information commonality between said atleast one intermediate party record and said target party record, saidhost system generating a list of said at least one intermediate partyrecord.
 17. A method of determining a connection between a source partyand a target party comprising: A. receiving identification informationof a source party and a target party; B. identifying a record in aclient database including identification information of said sourceparty, said client database including a plurality of records, eachrecord including a number of data fields, each of said data fieldsincluding identification information of a party; C. identifying a recordin a host database including identification information of said targetparty, said host database including a plurality of records, each recordincluding a number of data fields, each of said data fields includingidentification information of a party; D. searching said data fields insaid records of at least one of said client database and said hostdatabase to locate identification information commonalities between saidsource party record and at least one intermediate party record; E.searching said data fields in said records of at least one of saidclient database and said host database to locate identificationinformation commonalities between said at least one intermediate partyrecord and said target party record; and F. upon locating at least oneidentification information commonality between said at least oneintermediate party record and said target party record, generating alist including said at least one intermediate party record.
 18. A methodof determining a connection between a source party and a target partycomprising: A. receiving identification information of a source partyand a target party; B. identifying a record in a host database includingidentification information of said source party, said host databaseincluding a plurality of records, each record including a number of datafields, each of said data fields including identification information ofa party, said identification information being extracted fromnon-restricted sources; C. identifying a record in said host databaseincluding identification information of said target party; D. searchingsaid data fields in said records of said host database to locateidentification information commonalities between said source partyrecord and at least one intermediate party record; E. searching saiddata fields in said records of said host database to locateidentification information commonalities between said at least oneintermediate party record and said target party record; and F. uponlocating a data field commonality between said at least one intermediateparty record and said target party record, generating a list of said atleast one intermediate party record.
 19. A system for determining aconnection between a source party and a target party comprising: a hostsystem including a computer processor and associated memory, said hostsystem including a database including a plurality of records, eachrecord including a number of data fields, each of said data fieldsincluding identification information of a party; a user system includinga computer processor and associated memory, said user system beingadapted for establishing a connection to said host system over acommunication network, said user system inputting identificationinformation of a source party and a target party to said host system;said host system identifying records in said database includingidentification information of said source party identificationinformation of said target party; said host system searching said datafields in said records to locate identification informationcommonalities between said source party record and at least oneintermediate party record and searching said data fields in said recordsto locate identification information commonalities between said at leastone intermediate party record and said target party record; and uponlocating a identification information commonality between said at leastone intermediate party record and said target party record, said hostsystem generating a list of said at least one intermediate party record.